Kempsville Road will close to southbound traffic under I-264 from 9 p.m. Friday until as late as 5 a.m. Monday the following two weekends (Feb. 16-19 and Feb. 23-26). A third weekend closure (March 2-5) is possible.

A detour (map below) will direct traffic to turn left on Center Drive and right on Newton Road, back to Kempsville Road.

Graphic via VDOT

The closures are necessary to install steel girders over Kempsville Road for the I-64/I-264 Interchange Improvements Project.

Northbound traffic on Kempsville Road will also be stopped for up to 20 minutes at a time during the weekend closures. Outside of those stoppages, the inside lane of northbound Kempsville Road will be open to motorists. The lane closures will extend from the signal at Center Drive to approximately Blackstone Street. The sidewalks will not be accessible this weekend for walking between Fortis College and First Baptist Norfolk.

DETAILS FOR SUNDAY

Access to our church entrance will remain open.

The sidewalk to the east of the northbound lanes of traffic will be closed.

The north exit will be closed to traffic because a girder truck will be parking in the North Driveway, closing that exit and the loop around the back of the building.

The handicapped parking next to Kempsville Road will be closed because the north exit is blocked. The prayer garden will serve as handicapped parking for this weekend.

Blackstone Street and the parking lot across Kempsville Road will be accessible.

The access road between the field is open.

The shuttles will run this Sunday between all three offsite parking locations: Fortis College, Cross Roads Center, and HRT (The Tide). Drop-off and pickup will be in the prayer garden. Allow extra time for the shuttle routes this Sunday.

Thanks to Dave Forster from VDOT for keeping us up to date about these changes.

During the Sept. 17 Campus Catalyst Meeting, the church discussed and voted to approve a three-year lease agreement for a property at 1516 Volvo Parkway, Chesapeake, as our second location. Launching this new location is a part of our Ten-Year Vision, and more specifically, our One-Year Goal:

First Norfolk Advance: Between January and December 2017, we will launch a new location in our multi-site strategy.

This building on Volvo Parkway began as a church plant more than 10 years ago, but the church plant went out of business and a finance group purchased the partially-finished facility. The building has never been used and is in great condition. This facility works well for our purposes as it already includes a worship center and has three stories (plenty of space for student, young adult, adult, children, and preschool ministries). There are some construction projects that the owners will finish, and this will leave us to furnish the space with things like lighting, sound, furniture, and technology.

There are 170 parking spots for the building, which could present a potential challenge for significant future growth. However, this many spots give us parking for approximately 400 people. If/when we have more than 400 people attending church, we would then move to two gatherings at that location.

Our lease ownership begins on Oct. 1 (we are leasing this building, not purchasing it). Pastor Eric said that we plan to use October to finish and furnish the facility, and then plan a “soft launch” of the campus in November as we get our leadership teams (staff and lay people) in place. We plan to host some events at the location to help acclimate those who attend the church and people in the community to this new campus. We are planning for a “hard launch” of the new campus in January 2018. Currently, we are calling this location “First Norfolk on Volvo Parkway.” Brent Wilson, Minister to Young Adults, will be the pastor at this location.

At the beginning of August, VDOT installed a time-lapse construction camera to allow the public to view the progress on the I-64/I-264 interchange project. Our church is featured prominently in this time-lapse view. You can watch the time-lapse video on VDOT’s project website homepage here: http://www.i64i264improvements.org